It's been a long day, visiting Pristina

All bad Tom Petty references aside, my weekend stay in Pristina has been pretty cool so far. Woke up at the AC of dawn Friday so that we could be in Gjilan at 8 and Pristina by 9. Ate a Bosnia pastry at the aptly named "Bosnia 2" restaurant, then sat in on the conference on NGOs working in this conflict environment. After that, had a bit of a staff meeting, planned out my last couple weeks(!) here in the Balkans pertaining to my report (Draft finished on Thursday, two days ahead of schedule), and made plans to live in Skopje for a few days towards the end of July. They are giving me a week off for good behaviour ;), so I am taking the time to explore Europe, particularly Italy. Since I fly out of Skopje (then back, then out again 36 hours later), it looks as if I'll just crash at my supervisor's spare room in Skopje for a few days before and after trips.

So anyway, after exploring a bit of the city and journaling, I gave Todd a call, as he invited me to chill at his place for the weekend. Wandered around for a bit looking for the alley he lives in down, then get a call to meet him on the main road, as he needed to get supplies ASAP, because his work doesn't want him on the streets really during the protest.

"Protest?" you ask. Yeah, there were protests. I didn't go near them due to the fact I doubt my job, my school, my parents, my sister, my girlfriend or basically anyone who is already worried about me would want me to go near them. Did see lots of cops, though. Anyway, so I got my first glimpse at a hypermarket here in the Balkans... (supermarket for those playing the "at home in the US" game) It makes my lil Simpomarket in Vranje seem.. well, Simple... Got back to his place, unloaded the food and bevereages and coolers, backed down the alleyway (99% successfully), rented "300" from the burned DVD place for ,50Euro, and had some pasta and cheese at the flat.

And what a nice flat it is. Probably about 3x the size of mine, it is increadibly serene. Great views of the city, 3 balconeys, and 2 bathrooms that have yet to smell like ham. Currently we have inflatable swimming pool and pool toys for the beach party tonight, which should be pretty rocking.

Went to the green market early this morning, which was an interesting experience. Bought a T-shirt to replace the one that is nearly worn out (I have a feeling nearly all my clothes are being sacrificed to keep the washermachine gods happy). Did some more exploring, came back, helped set up a bit more for the party including trying to find out where one buys fluid for tiki torches in Kosovo), then ate some various meat-steak sandwhich (I thought i was just ordering meat to cook here until he started putting it on the grill!) . Now just kicking back and waiting until Beach Party:Kosovo begins. I'll be heading back to Vranje tomorrow afternoon, then to Macedonia for an econ event, then moving offices with Davor on Tuesday - the mail will still come to us, as the NGO we share office space with currently will still be there - plus, Davor's sister works for them, so she will make sure it gets to us. Will do the photo thing later on, when my compy is back on the net. Keep the comments coming, and hope everyone is staying safe!

Thoughts Upon Death, Resurrection, and the Lil Old Lady in the Stairwell

Note: If you are someone who is overly sensitive about death, you might want to skip this one.

Still here? Great. Now, some of you may recall me writing about the little old lady (and by little I mean she rests her head on the railing) that stands in the stairwell here in my flat building. Not everyday, but at least 5 times a week, I'd see her there. Just standing. Sometimes she would try to speak to me, once she just poked her head out of her doorway like the Serbian version of "Laugh-in" or "You Can't Do That on Television." Most of the time she just stood there quietly until I was two steps from the landing, which startled me a bit. I used to joke that, just as every troll has its bridge and dragon has its cave, so too does this little old lady have her stairwell.

At least, she did.

You see, I hadn't seen her for a few days. Then I walk up the stairs and, instead of seeing her, I see a coffin and a cross with the dates 1928-2007.

After getting over my shock of "There's a coffin. In my stairwell. Ok...", I started thinking "Oh gods, what if, by talking about this little old lady, I've killed her?!?" And we had just started getting along so well, me saying random English greetings to her, her saying something back in Serbian. And now she was gone. For days people would be standing in the stairwell, talking, crying. Then they slowly stopped showing up, and the hallways were empty again.

Until yesterday, the day I realised the little old lady was no longer dead.

Like every other night after work, I ran up the stairs to my room. I was just about to turn the corner when suddenly I saw her in her old spot, looking over the railing in a very "Snoopy" way.
Now, having thought she was dead for the last 4 days, I was a bit surprised. I would have thought "Zombie!" except that typically zombies say things like "Brains!" (which brings up an interesting point - what happens when you have a room full of zombies that all speak different languages? do they just assume that they are all saying brains, do they have to translate it, or do they just ignore it... I know what thought is going to keep me up all night now...)

The little old lady did not say "Brains." She didn't say anything at all. She just looked really sad. Then I noticed that the death pamphlet (which is how they announce deaths here, apparently) was stuck on the door opposite of hers. So there is a good chance that the woman who died was a friend of the lil old lady in the stairwell. And even better chance that the woman who died was not, in fact, the little old lady. So she probably wasn't resurrected either. Unless you count the fact that in my mind she was dead, and now she was clearly not.

I wanted to say I was sorry for her loss. I wanted to tell her it would be ok. I wanted to tell her something to make her feel better.

Unfortunately my phrasebook doesn't cover "What to say to comfort the lil old lady in your building when she looks so incredibly sad and lost because someone her neighbor just died."

I think I might have to write a letter to the publisher about this... How can they call it "Lonely Planet" and not have a section like that?

VETERANS THREATEN THEY WILL STOP “CAR LAZAR GUARD’

In other news, I'll be heading back to Pristina this weekend for a Round Table and also to meet up with Todd, who's been working there for the last half year or so. Most likely will stick away from the Protest scheduled for Saturday, though.

VETERANS THREATEN THEY WILL STOP “CAR LAZAR GUARD’

(Most dailies, Koha Ditore, p. 6)

Koha Ditore reports that Abdyl Mushkolaj, the head of the war veterans in Dukagjini region, stated on Tuesday that Kosovo institutions will bear a part of responsibility in case a uniform or sign of ‘Car Lazar Guard’ appears in Kosovo on 28 June. Mushkolaj conveyed this message to PM Agim Ceku personally in a meeting.

PM’s spokesperson Ulpiana Lama confirmed holding of a meeting between Ceku and Mushkolaj. “Mushkolaj presented the concerns he has announced publicly to the PM. The PM will bring his worries up in the meeting between the Government, UNMIK, and KFOR,” she said.

According to Lama, individuals of ‘Car Lazar Guard’ may infiltrate amongst the group who will be in Gazimestan. “Citizens should not be worried about this as security structures will deal with this issue,” Lama added.

UCK veterans considered the announcement of ‘Car Lazar Guard’ as a serious provocation. They requested from KFOR and UNMIK to not allow ‘Car Lazar Guard’ enter Kosovo otherwise they will take measures.

“This is a serious provocation. Criminals of Serb terrorist units, who massacred, burned, and destroyed Kosovo, are returning now as members of car Lazar Guard,” read a press release issued by UCK Veterans in Dukagjin region. They believe that KFOR, KPS, and other security structures will not allow them to come to Kosovo. “If that does not happen, we will be forced to take measures as we know and can,” read the press release.

Additionally, under the title “Dangerous Holiday”, Express writes that AKSH (National Albanian Army) will wait ‘Car Lazar Guard’, probably not with flowers, but with bullets. If one believes in the statements of the Serb leaders of this guard and the posters of AKSH, then Serb holiday in Gazimestan on 28 June will be a real battle.

The newspaper writes that AKSH posters are not a joke. Gafurr Adili, the spokesperson of the FBKSH, said, “We disseminated the posters. We are behind them.”

But while citizens read AKSH posters in Skenderaj, Vushtrri, Mitrovica, Kacanik, and other municipalities, four Serb youth from Gjilan and Ferizaj were taking pictures before the Gazimestan monument. “We identify ourselves with Gazimestan, Ljubomir Sojevic told Express.

Sojevic and his friends are ready to join ‘Car Lazar Guard’ believing them to be a group of people who want to unite Serbs.

Famous Faces

So I went to Pristina on Friday, where I got to see many interesting sights, though none quite as interesting as this:



And yes, that's "Welcome to Bill Clinton Blvd." in Albanian. One day, Flat Stanley hopes to have a 3 story banner dedicated to his wave...

I wonder if they'd let me in...

Former US President Bill Clinton Might Visit Albania

18 06 2007 Tirana_ After the “rock star” welcome granted to American president George Bush a week ago, former president Bill Clinton has accepted an invitation from Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha to visit Tirana, said a statement from the prime minister`s cabinet.

Berisha held a meeting with the former president of the United States during a visit at the United Nations in New York where he also met the Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.


At the meeting, Clinton accepted Berisha`s invitation to visit Albania, the Prime Minister’s cabinet said. It remains unclear when Clinton might visit Albania.


The Albanian leader expressed his gratitude to the former US president for his role in pushing for the 1999 NATO intervention against the forces of former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, in Kosovo.


“President Clinton started the NATO intervention, while Bush would be the one remembered as granting Kosovo its independence, so in a certain way a historical circle is closed by both of them,” Enkel Demi, editor of Albania’s private broadcaster TV Klan, said on Monday.


“Though Clinton has not officially confirmed it yet, it would be meaningful if he came on the day when the independence of Kosovo was announced,” he added.


Clinton thanked the Prime Minister for the warm welcome granted to Bush in Albania and gave his support for Albania’s planned integration into NATO and the European Union.



President Bush, received a very warm welcome in Albania, during his eight-hour stopover on June 10, which became the high point of his European tour, marred by protest and rioting elsewhere.



The pictures of the 43rd president of the United States, engulfed in an enthusiastic crowd in the small town of Fushë Kruja, created an echo around the world, creating a much-needed public relations boost for Tirana, which has been struggling to make an arduous transition to democracy since its Stalinist communist regime collapsed 15 years ago.

Source: http://www.birn.eu.com/en/87/15/3330/

Slowly Recovering

So I'm about 60% back to health. Slept most of Wednesday, then went to Kosovo on Thursday and visited some caves with the GPKT kids. Came home, slept, woke up, and came here to Skopje, where we started planning the next coming weeks. Now just waiting for the other parts of our meetings to happen, and hopefully will get back sometime around 17:00 or 19:00 at the latest. This weekend's big plans? Sleep.

In other news, went to the Rt. 66 Diner in Gjilan, where they had this on the menu....

Sick and Tired

Good gods, I'm sick. Got home yesterday from a UNDP meeting, and stomach just started acting up. Ended up freaking out, then skype acted up, so I ended up calling out instead, which only lasted for 14 minutes. Skype got back up, then started getting the "Oh gods why won't it make up it's mind either stay down or come up! My ribs can't take much more internal bruising" feeling. Stayed up most of the night, getting what little comfort that I could from talking with those I cared about, then passed out around 3AM. woke up a few hours later, dragged myself to the office while warding off the "Vision distorting everything to non-Euclidean geometry" Helped Davor set up skype on the lap top, nearly feel down the stairs each time I walked to his area, until he gave me some medicine that helps to "sweat out" the illness, and I went home. Scary lady on the third floor still tried to have a conversation with me, even though she *knows* I have no idea what she's saying. Walking up 5 flights of stairs with this vision altering sickness, took more of the Serbian sweat medicine, and passed out on and off. Need to be better before going to Gjilan tomorrow at 8:30....

GDMF Birds

So some of you may have been wondering what the GDMF Birds look like. I caught two of them hanging out on my balcony, will try to get a shot of them peering in from the clothing line.

Attack of the Processed Meat (Or why I make soup)

So people have been wondering why I make soup for dinner just about every night. Well, that's easy - Just like Econ, it's all about the markets. See, the markets here are like your general store meets a Wawa/7-11/QuickChek (Bonus points for those who actually know *what* a QuickChek is...) So you have your basic milk and juice (which you always have to check for expiry dates), packaged soups, lots of pasta, some crackers and pretzels, sodas, candy, and sometimes a meat counter.

This is where you get into trouble. See, I have no idea how to *cook* market meat. So when I went to Davor's store (which his wife runs), he convinced me to buy some of this Market Meat, which look like hotdogs, but wrapped in a non-edible wrap (I tried, read more on that later) So I bought some, and finally got around to cooking them. "Just put them in the water and boil the water" said Davor.

Apparently Davor hasn't seen the pot I use to boil. It's not very big-In fact, I had to wedge the meat (which came in 2 sections of 2) against the walls of the pot to cook. I put the water on to boil and sat down to read. Suddenly I hear a noise, like something has jumped down from someplace high. Assuming it was one of the GDMF Birds(tm) that like to attack me when I put up laundry, sit on the line and stare into my apartment with a look that say "Yeah, you *think* you're getting these clothes back...", I ignore it. Then I hear it again, only with a tad bit less "Kathunk" this time. I decide to investigate.

Now, I'm a smart person, or at least Mommy says I am. And I was able to deduce afterwards what happened quickly enough. See, I forgot that heat makes things expand. Including wedged meat products. That gives enough pressure inside the tubes the Market Meat sits in to expand, and, since they were wedged V-shape one set of two on top of the other, I inadvertently invented the first meat-a-pult, at least the first in my flat at any rate. Meanwhile I now have one dangerously undercooked Market Meat pair and one slighty more cooked Market Meat set. So, screwing my courage to the sticking place (Better known as the side of the refrigerator, but that's another story) and keeping my bottle of Anti-Biotic handy, I try to cut the Market Meat Sleeve.

It doesn't cut.

I slash at it, saw at it, hack at it, pry at it. It's acting like pleather. Deciding that nothing this tough could be organic, much less healthy, I decide to dump out the now pink water in the pot, scrub it out with my questionable sponges, and make soup. At least that doesn't try to escape.




Oh, and for those wonder the fate of the Market Meat, I decided against tossing it on the far side of my roof, for the GDMF birds would probably not eat it out of spite and instead hide it in my pants on the line...

Further on the Conference, More Letters, and Photos

So after a very long and trying weekend (We lost power again, which means everything in my flat acts stupid for a day after) and having an allergic reaction to something (don't know what, hope to god it's not something in the soups i've been making or in my kitchen in general), I dragged myself to work.  Get yet another bit of mail (this makes 3, for those playing along at home) and got teased for it, since all three have been from the same, wonderful, incredible person (she knows who she is. :-P) My day improved dramatically as I opened the letter (by hand, not by bunny ;) and read what was inside, so that's always a plus.
Went to look at a third option for where we might be moving the office (I take the photos) and found it to be a really really nice place.  Still waiting on what the final price will be, then Davor and I will be emailing Robert, the Project Director, to see if it's acceptable.

In other news, last friday we went to a conference on Corruption that I mentioned in the title of the last post, but didn't go too indepth on it. I still can't go too indepth into it, because I only understood whatever I could overhear the translator at the other table say. The speakers were quite good, however, with Custom Agents, Professors, and NGO heads. The professor told the story about how one of his collegues accepted money for a passing grade for his student, only to find years later when needing emergancy treatment after an accident. the head doctor in charge was the very student that bought his way through the class.

Afterwards we checked out the hot springs that attract visitors from all over the region. The water is 96 degrees C, or "Ready for Coffee" according to Hyzri, as he, Davor and I stuck our hands in the near-boiling water.

Also saw the hotel that they stopped building halfway through, a huge building that now has trees growing in it... reminded me of my misspent youth investigating "Weird New Jersey" 

Photos Below:


Hyzri, Davor's Father, Davor and I


Hot Spring


Crazy Hotel




Landscape

Kosovo, Football and Conferences, oh my!

It's been a busy week these last 3 days. Went to the Gjilan, Kosovo office on Tuesday, where I did my first of probably many embarrassing pratfalls due to slick sidewalks in the rain, then helped with the "Football Without Borders" event in Macedonia the day after. The event took city employees from the GPKT region and pit them in competition with each other, each side playing two matches. I have never been to the FIFA World Cup, but I can imagine what it must be like now. The last game went on for two over-time periods and ended in penalty shots. Gjilan, champions two years running, let the other team win. Which was good, due to current events, having the Kosovar team come in first and the Serbian team in last would be an interesting situation.

Project is going well, all things considered. Looking up more information on CEFTA (like NAFTA, but Central Europe). Have a meeting next week with the local UNDP Rep. So that will be interesting.

In other news, I got my first two bits of mail! Real mail is very exciting to get (if you need the address, just send it to my work site, since I'm not sure how well mail goes to my flat.) Also, my site wants to make sure I get a chance to explore the continent while I am here, so towards the end of my time here I will be heading to Milan, Italia :) Very exciting, needless to say. Also, found that there's a popular brand of water in Kosovo that has an interesting name. What do all these events have in common?

And in the morning, my bathroom smells like ham

This disturbed me the first couple days, as I am unused to a pork-scented WC. For the first few days I tried to find where the smell was coming from, and started to bleach the usual areas. Then I thought it was because I left the window open at night for ventilation, so I closed the window. No change. So now I just pretend that I have a communal bath with Link Hogthrob, Ms. Piggy, and Porky Pig.

Other news of interest:

I learned that the rows of exposed switches above my door are my circuit breakers, especially the one that controls my fridge, which likes to trip. Thank goodness I do shopping on a bi-daily basis.

I had my water meter check. Here's a fun joke: How many Vranjeans does it take to check my water meter? 6 people. One read the meter, one held the flashlight, and the other 4 just wanted to get a look at the foreigner. At least, thats what I assumed they were. I think one was my landlady, but since I've only seen her twice, I had to go on assumption.

Been learning far too much about CEFTA, EPZ, FTZ, BW, SEZ and whole lotta acronyms that make even less sense. Thank goodness I took an Econ course, otherwise I'd have to rely on my experience from that time I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. (end bad joke)

Today I get to meet with some of the municipality leaders, tomorrow Kosovo, and the next day Macedonia for a football game with all the muni leaders of the areas we work.

Also on our discussion: What happens to our projects if Serbia continues to turn away from Europe and starts turning towards Russia for influence.

Thank God for Skype

I really don't know what I would do without it. Skype keeps me sane, allows me to see people with webcams (Mom and Da, Dea) and show my face to those without (Like Darryl and Baby Rachel...) It makes the whole far away feel less far. So yeah.

In other news, had my first staff meeting, I'm apparently in charge of installing Skype on Davor's compy (thus the reflection above) among other responsiblities. Coolest responsibility? Being the English Language Editor for the phrasebook the Youth Council created. I get to make sure the phrases make sense in English as well as make sure they are somewhat acceptable. Ilina has already said she's taken out the worst offenders, particularly in the section dedicated to love and relationships...

Otherwise I'm just there as native speaker and situational analysis for the Serbian region, writing up a few paragraphs on what the general mood of various articles on Serbia are. In addition, I'm meeting with various officials to discuss Free Trade Zones and what they hope a FTZ will do for their municipality. I'll let you all know how that goes.